About Dave Merkel
Experienced musician and audio post production engineer with a demonstrated history of working in the media production industry. Skilled in original music, keyboardist, sound design, and audio post production.
Dave was born in the land of Dances with Wolves. Well, the movie was actually filmed in western South Dakota, not far from the Black Hills. Dave grew up on the plains in East River So Dak, a few hours east of the Black Hills. His training and skills have taken him around the country from concert stages and piano bars to worship services, morning radio personality to audio engineering, recording voice overs to live event announcing, being a pastor to being a regular at the bar. It all encompasses real life: the good, the bad and the ugly.
It’s been a bit of a strange journey, but it all contributes to the way Dave approaches creativity in music, sound design, audio production and voice overs.
Dave and his wife reside in Billings, Montana, where both the mountains and plains of the northern Rockies inform his perspective on life and its many stories. The people in Billings, Montana are wonderfully welcoming, generous, and engaged in life.
Over 30 years experience as a professional musician (piano, keyboards, arranging and composing)
Over 20 years experience in audio production, editing and engineering
Over 20 years experience in voice overs
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A bit more
Music is a key component and derivative of life, Dave’s included. The clichés often heard about music have a tendency to ring harmoniously true: music is the common language of the universe; if you want to know and understand someone, listen to the music they’re listening to/playing; music has the power to engage, unify, and move individuals beyond themselves; where words leave off music begins, yet there is nothing more difficult than speaking about music. Music is Dave’s home, escape, and a source of life.
While the numerous genres and cultural nuances of music each seem to offer something highly unique, the underlying message and power of music can move us far beyond ourselves to a place we discover the interconnectedness and interdependency we have with all humanity and creation. Music is, simply put, the language of human unity. From classical music to the syncopation and rhythm-driven hip-hop tunes to the creative and spontaneous flow of improvisation, music contains an underlying message that not only reflects but creates and nurtures life. While Dave is a classically trained pianist and pipe organist, he has come to embrace all forms, expressions, genres and styles of music. Rarely will he play music as written, but instead in a way that fully reflects the movement of the spirit in the moment.
Dave is definitely not the type that appreciates being placed in a box and labeled, and he attempts to afford the same respect to each person he encounters. Labeling and categorizing, while making it seemingly easier for us humans to understand life, is too black and white and inappropriate, leading to a deterioration of the uniqueness and diversity of each individual. As for Dave, you can label him conservative or liberal, progressive or fundamental, godly or devilish, graceful or clumsy, educated or not, simple or complicated, analytical or creative, playful or contemplative. All and none fit. Place him in a box and he’ll suddenly be missing from your meticulously labeled container only to be found in a completely unrelated categorized box. Not to worry, God does that with Dave on occasion too.
Some of life’s simple pleasures include:
- Golf
- Cooking
- Red wine
- Microbrew beer
- The outdoors
- Hiking
- People
- Monastic solitariness
- Freedom
- Space
- Music
- Good storytelling in voice, sound, pictures, printed word, and imagination